Definition of saprophagous in English:
saprophagous
adjective saˈprɒfəɡəssəˈpräfəɡəs
Biology (of an organism) feeding on or obtaining nourishment from decaying organic matter.
free-living worms are carnivorous, herbivorous, or saprophagous
Example sentencesExamples
- Based on the close relationship of thrips to the lophioneurid psocopteroids, it is likely that the Triassic and Jurassic thrips were saprophagous, just as the psocopterans and merothripids are today.
- The family Anthomyiidae (Insecta: Diptera) is a globally distributed group of phytophagous, saprophagous, or coprophagous flies with over 1500 described species worldwide.
- Adults and larvae of most species are facultative predators, but some are specialist predators, some are mycophagous or saprophagous or even phytophagous, occasionally damaging flowers and turf.
Derivatives
nounˈsaprə(ʊ)feɪdʒ
Biology Saprophages are distributed around the world according to factors such as type of vegetation, its state of decay, amount of free water in the soil, climate, and other conditions.
noun
Biology Saprophagy is still a major feeding mode in Piestinae, Osoriinae, and Proteininae, perhaps with some adaptation to mycophagy.